My Favorite Musical Offerings From 1993

Reviewing my taste in music, two decades later

This morning Buzzfeed released a list of 29 albums that turn 20 years old this year. While I had yet to even have a double-digit number of years under my own belt when 1993 kicked off, I was already firmly under the spell of music, so quite a few of the albums on their list brought back memories, often rather embarrassing ones.

At the time, I was teetering between a love of what I would now consider “respectable” music and those undeniably catchy pop tracks that compelled me to spend every 2 dollars I could wrangle from my parents on a litany of cassette singles. Of the albums on Buzzfeed’s list, I remember owning three in full — Radiohead’s Pablo Honey, Counting Crows’ August and Everything After, and Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club — and I’m pretty certain those came courtesy of one of those “12 CDs for a Penny” clubs my mom belonged to (do those still exist?).

As for the tracks from 1993 that I couldn’t get enough of, Prince’s “Seven,” SWV’s “Weak,” Four Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” and Aerosmith’s “Livin’ on the Edge” were all listened to ad naseum. In retrospect, I was also starting to develop a penchant for songs with “love” in the title judging from the memories brought back by the songs “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” (Meat Loaf), “Another Sad Love Song” (Toni Braxton), and of course the Three Musketeers soundtrack collaboration “All for Love” (Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting). Romantic-in-training, I suppose.

I always remember 1994 as being the year of the releases that would go on to form my “adult” taste in music, thanks in part to the release of Weezer’s self-titled “Blue Album” and Green Day’s Dookie, but 1993 is definitely good for some nostalgic “What was I thinking?” chuckles. Now that I’ve shared my embarrassing musical favorites from two decades ago, let me know in the comments what songs monopolized 1993 for you.

First of all, if you were single digits in ’93, you really aren’t allowed to take part in the sad nostalgia yet, but I’ll let it go.

I remember 1993 as the year that punk broke for me personally, in the form of that Stereolab record (this is MY version of punk, mind you). It finally broke me of my XTC addiction and helped clear away the last remnants of Classic Rock from my brain.

Chuck: Yeah, I was definitely still a youngster! That year does mark the point in time when I started “discovering” music for myself, though. Prior to that, I’d grown up on a healthy mix of Motown and ’60s rock thanks to my parents’ record collection.